The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Kanokpan Lao-Araya as its new country director for Kyrgyzstan.
Lao-Araya will lead ADB’s operations in Kyrgyzstan and supervise the implementation of the bank’s 2018–2022 country partnership strategy and 2021–2023 country operations business plan. Both are aimed at supporting Kyrgyz growth and economic diversification, leveraging regional cooperation and integration and improving access to public and social services.
“Ms. Lao-Araya has more than 25 years’ experience working on development and economic issues across the Asia-Pacific region. She joined ADB in 2001 from the Ministry of Finance in Thailand and has since held a series of increasingly senior positions,” the ADB said. “Latterly, she was ADB Country Director for Bhutan where she led the bank’s operations including the implementation of ADB’s COVID-19 support.”
Lao-Araya replaces Candice McDeigan who was appointed as ADB country director for Azerbaijan.
In 2020, ADB provided more than $70mn to Kyrgyzstan, including $50mn in budget support and $20mn in emergency assistance. Overall, the development bank has provided around $1.4bn in grants and loans to the country to date.
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